1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus for storing photograph slides. In particular, the present invention is a computer controlled mechanized slide storage and retrieval system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Slide mounting is a very popular method for maintaining photographs. Many establishments such as commercial businesses and public museums have large libraries of photograph slides. As the size of these libraries increase, they can be extremely difficult to manage. Invariably, the need arises to access a particular slide within a minimum amount of time. There are usually certain slides which are frequently used and must be kept readily available. Performing these tasks is difficult with large slide libraries.
Currently available photograph slide storage and retrieval systems are primarily manual. Large filing cabinets are specifically designed for storing photograph slides. The slides must be placed within and removed from the file cabinets by hand. Information characteristic of the slides and their locations within the file cabinets is often maintained within a personal computer. Although an operator can identify a slide and its storage position through use of the personal computer, it must still be retrieved by hand from the file cabinet.
When a collection of slides exceeds 5000 or so in number, it becomes a labor-intensive task to physically maintain the library and file records thereto. These problems are compounded by the repetitive tasks of data entry and slide filing. This manual method also requires continuous handling of delicate and valuable slides. Long-term safekeeping, therefore, becomes difficult.
It is evident that there is a continuing need for improved photograph slide storage and retrieval systems. An automated slide storage and retrieval system would be especially desirable. The system must be compact, have a large storage capacity, and be easy to operate.